According to the Choson Ilbo:
The number of North Korean refugees to the South is expected to exceed 3,000 for the first time in history this year. The Unification Ministry on Monday said 1,748 North Korean defectors made their way south in the first half of this year, up 42.1 percent from 1,230 a year ago. At this rate, the figure is expected to exceed 3,000 by the end of this year.
A mere 71 North Korean defectors came to the South in 1998, but numbers had broken the 1,000 mark by 2002 and exceeded 2,000 in 2006. The total as of the end of June stood at 13,996.
According to Yonhap, there were 2,544 DPRK defectors admitted to the South in 2007.
The news that defections are up is interesting in its own light, however, the demographic composition of these defectors could tell us much more about what is happening inside the DPRK. If these numbers come from poor or remote provinces, they are likely a predictable result of increasing economic hardship, and their departure is inconsequential to regime stability. If these populations represent a “brain drain” of educated or politically connected cadres, then this could be a signal of expected political turmoil. Of course after last week’s discovery that DPRK intelligence agents have infiltrated the South’s DPRK defector community, information of this type will become scarcer than ever, at least for the general public.
According to the CIA World Fact Book, North Korea’s population stands at 23,479,089 (as of July 2008). I think this is an overstatement, however, this means that at a minimum, .012% of the population emigrated this year alone.
Read the full article here:
More Than 3,000 N.Koreans to Defect South This Year
Choson Ilbo
9/2/2008
